Guangzhou

A settlement now known as Nanwucheng was present in the area by 1100 BC.[43][44] Some traditional Chinese histories placed Nanwucheng's founding during the reign of Ji Yan,[45][46] king of Zhou from 314 to 256 BC. It was said to have consisted of little more than a stockade of bamboo and mud.[45][46]

The jade burial suit of Zhao Mo in Guangzhou's Nanyue King Museum

Guangzhou, then known as Panyu, was founded on the eastern bank of the Pearl River[42] in 214 BC. It was the seat of Qin Empire's Nanhai Commandery, and served as a base for the first invasion of the Baiyue lands in southern China. Legendary accounts claimed that the soldiers at Panyu were so vigilant that they did not remove their armor for three years.[47] Upon the fall of the Qin, General Zhao Tuo established the kingdom of Nanyue and made Panyu its capital in 204 BC. It remained independent throughout the Chu-Han Contention, although Zhao negotiated recognition of his independence in exchange for his nominal submission to the Han in 196 BC.[48] Archeological evidence shows that Panyu was an expansive commercial center: in addition to items from central China, archeologists have found remains originating from Southeast Asia, India, and even Africa.[49] Zhao Tuo was succeeded by Zhao Mo and then Zhao Yingqi. Upon Zhao Yingqi's death in 115 BC, his younger son Zhao Xing was named as his successor in violation of Chinese primogeniture. By 113 BC, his chinese mother, the Empress Dowager Jiu (樛) had prevailed upon him to submit Nanyue as a formal part of the Han Empire. The native prime minister Lü Jia (呂嘉) launched a coup, killing Han ambassadors along with the king, his mother, and their supporters.[50] A successful ambush then annihilated a Han force which had been sent to arrest him. Emperor Wu took offense and launched a massive river- and seaborne war: six armies under Lu Bode and Yang Pu[51] took Panyu and annexed Nanyue by the end of 111 BC.[50]

Guangzhou (as 廣) on the 1136 Map of the Tracks of Yu

Old photograph of a commercial Guangzhou street c. 1880

Guangzhou ("Canton") and the surrounding islands of Henan ("Hanan"), Pazhou ("Whampoa"), changzhou ("Dane's Island"), and Xiaoguwei ("French Island") during the First Opium War's Second Battle of Canton. The large East Indiamen of the Canton trade used the anchorage sheltered by these four islands, but the village and island of Huangpu for which it was named make up no part of present-day Guangzhou's Huangpu District.

Incorporated into the Han dynasty, Panyu became a provincial capital. In AD 226, it became the seat of Guang Prefecture, which gave it its modern name. The Old Book of Tang described Guangzhou as an important port in southern China.[52] Direct routes connected the Middle East and China, as shown in the records of a Chinese prisoner returning home from Iraq twelve years after his capture at Talas.[53] Relations were often strained: Arab and Persian pirates[54] sacked the city on October 30, 758[note 3][55][56][57][58] and about 200,000 foreigners were killed under the revenge of Chinese rebel Huang Chao in 878, along with the city's Jews, Christians,[59][60][61] and Parsis.[62][63] The port was closed for fifty years after its destruction.[54]

Amid the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms that followed the collapse of the Tang dynasty, the Later Liang governor Liu Yan used his base at Panyu to establish a "Great Yue" or "Southern Han" empire, which lasted from 917 to 971. The region enjoyed considerable cultural and economic success in this period. From the 10th to 12th century, there are records that the large foreign communities were not exclusively male, but included "Persian women".[64][65][note 4] According to Odoric of Pordenone, Guangzhou was as large as three Venices in terms of area, and rivaled all of Italy in the amount of crafts produced. He also noted the large amount of ginger available as well as large geese and snakes.[67] Guangzhou was visited by the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta during his 14th-century journey around the world;[68] he detailed the process by which the Chinese constructed their large ships in the port's shipyards.[69]

Shortly after the Hongwu Emperor's declaration of the Ming dynasty, he reversed his earlier support of foreign trade and imposed the first of a series of sea bans (海禁).[70] These banned private foreign trade upon penalty of death for the merchant and exile for his family and neighbors.[71] Previous maritime intendancies of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo were closed in 1384[72] and legal trade became limited to the tribute delegations sent to or by official representatives of foreign governments.[73]

Following the Portuguese conquest of the Melaka Sultanate, Rafael Perestrello traveled to Guangzhou as a passenger on a native junk in 1516.[74] His report induced Fernão Pires de Andrade to sail to the city with eight ships the next year,[74] but De Andrade's exploration[75] was understood as spying[76] and his brother Simão and others began attempting to monopolize trade,[77] enslaving Chinese women[78] and children,[note 5] engaging in piracy,[80] and fortifying the island of Tamão.[81][82] Rumors even circulated that Portuguese were eating the children.[83][79][note 6] The Guangzhou administration was charged with driving them off:[80] they bested the Portuguese at the Battle of Tunmen[85] and in Xicao Bay; held a diplomatic mission hostage in a failed attempt to pressure the restoration of the sultan of Malacca,[86] who had been accounted a Ming vassal;[87] and, after placing them in cangues and keeping them for most of a year, ultimately executed 23 by lingchi.[88][note 7]</ref> With the help of local pirates,[83] the "Folangji" then carried out smuggling at Macao, Lampacau, and St John's Island (now Shangchuan),[78] until Leonel de Sousa legalized their trade with bribes to Admiral Wang Bo (汪柏) and the 1554 Luso-Chinese Accord. The Portuguese undertook not to raise fortifications and to pay customs dues;[90] three years later, after providing the Chinese with assistance suppressing their former pirate allies,[91] the Portuguese were permitted to warehouse their goods at Macau instead of Guangzhou itself.[92]

In October 1646, the Longwu Emperor's brother, Zhu Yuyue fled by sea to Guangzhou, the last stronghold of the Ming empire. On December 11, he declared himself the Shaowu Emperor, borrowing his imperial regalia from local theater troupes.[93] He led a successful offense against his cousin Zhu Youlang but was deposed and executed on 20 January 1647 when the Ming turncoat Li Chengdong (李成棟) sacked the city on behalf of the Qing.[94][note 8]

The Qing became somewhat more receptive to foreign trade after gaining control of Taiwan in 1683.[95] The Portuguese from Macau and Spaniards from Manila returned, as did private Muslim, Armenian, and English traders.[96] From 1699 to 1714, the French and British East India Companies sent a ship or two each year;[96] the Austrian Ostend General India Co. arrived in 1717,[97] the Dutch East India Co. in 1729,[98] the Danish Asiatic Co. in 1731,[note 9] and the Swedish East India Co. the next year.[96] These were joined by the occasional Prussian or Trieste Company vessel. The first independent American ship arrived in 1784, and the first colonial Australian one in 1788. By that time, Guangzhou was one of the world's great ports, organized under the Canton System.[100] The main exports were tea and porcelain.[96] As a meeting place of merchants from all over the world, Guangzhou became a major contributor to the rise of the modern global economy.[101]

In the 19th century, most of the city's buildings were still only one or two stories. However, there were notable exceptions such as the Flower Pagoda of the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, and the guard tower known as the Five-Story Pagoda. The subsequently urbanized northern hills were bare and covered with traditional graves. The brick city walls were about 6 mi (10 km) in circumference, 25 ft (8 m) high, and 20 ft (6 m) wide. Its eight main gates and two water gates all held guards during the day and were closed at night. The wall rose to incorporate a hill on its northern side and was surrounded on the other three by a moat which, along with the canals, functioned as the city's sewer, emptied daily by the river's tides. A partition wall with four gates divided the northern "old town" from the southern "new town" closer to the river; the suburb of Xiguan (Saikwan; "West Gate") stretched beyond and the boats of fishers, traders, and Tanka ("boat people") almost entirely concealed the riverbank for about 4 mi (6 km). It was common for homes to have a storefront facing the street and to treat their courtyards as a kind of warehouse.[42] The city was part of a network of signal towers so effective that messages could be relayed to Beijing—about 1,200 mi (1,931 km) away—in less than 24 hours.[102]

The Canton System was maintained until the outbreak of the First Opium War in 1839. Following a series of battles in the Pearl River Delta, the British captured Canton on March 18, 1841.[103] The Second Battle of Canton was fought two months later.[104] Following the Qing's 1842 treaty with Great Britain, Guangzhou lost its privileged trade status as more and more treaty ports were opened to more and more countries, usually including extraterritorial enclaves. Amid the decline of Qing prestige and the chaos of the Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856), the Punti and Hakka waged a series of clan wars from 1855 to 1867 in which one million people died. The foreign trade facilities were destroyed by local Chinese in the Arrow War (1856–1858). The international community relocated to the outskirts and most international trade moved through Shanghai.[105][106]

The concession for the Guangdong–Hankou Railway was awarded to the American China Development Co. in 1898. It completed its branch line west to Foshan and Sanshui before being engulfed in a diplomatic crisis after a Belgian consortium bought a controlling interest and the Qing subsequently canceled its concession. J.P. Morgan was awarded millions in damages[107] and the line to Wuchang was not completed until 1936[108] and the completion of a unified Beijing–Guangzhou Railway waited until the completion of Wuhan's Yangtze River Bridge in 1957.

Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs

During the late Qing dynasty, Guangzhou was the site of revolutionary attempts such as the Uprisings of 1895 and 1911 that were the predecessors of the successful Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty. The 72 revolutionaries whose bodies were found after the latter uprising are honored as the city's 72 Martyrs at the Huanghuagang ("Yellow Flower Mound") Mausoleum.

After the assassination of Sung Chiao-jen and Yuan Shih-kʻai's attempts to remove the Nationalist Party of China from power, the leader of Guangdong Hu Hanmin joined the 1913 Second Revolution against him[109] but was forced to flee to Japan with Sun Yat-sen after its failure. The city came under national spotlight again in 1917, when Prime Minister Duan Qirui's abrogation of the constitution triggered the Constitutional Protection Movement. Sun Yat-sen came to head the Guangzhou Military Government supported by the members of the dissolved parliament and the Southwestern warlords. The Guangzhou government fell apart as the warlords withdrew their support. Sun fled to Shanghai in November 1918 until the Guangdong warlord Chen Jiongming restored him in October 1920 during the Yuegui Wars.[110] On 16 June 1922, Sun was ousted in a coup and fled on the warship Yongfeng after Chen sided with the Zhili Clique's Beijing government. In the following months Sun mounted a counterattack into Guangdong by rallying supporters from Yunnan and Guangxi, and in January established a government in the city for the third time.

From 1923 to 1926 Sun and the Kuomintang used the city as a base to prosecute a renewed revolution in China by conquering the warlords in the north. Although Sun was previously dependent on opportunistic warlords who hosted him in the city, with the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT developed its own military power to serve its ambition. The Canton years saw the evolution of the KMT into a revolutionary movement with a strong military focus and ideological commitment, setting the tone of the KMT rule of China beyond 1927.

In 1924, the KMT made the momentous decision to ally with the Communist Party and the USSR. With Soviet help, KMT reorganized itself along the Leninist line and adopted a pro-labor and pro-peasant stance. The Kuomintang-CCP cooperation was confirmed in the First Congress of the KMT and the communists were instructed to join the KMT. The allied government set up the Peasant Movement Training Institute in the city, of which Mao Zedong was a director for one term. Sun and his military commander Chiang used Soviet funds and weapons to build an armed force staffed by communist commissars, training its cadres in the Whampoa Military Academy.[110] In August, the fledgling army suppressed the Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising. The next year the anti-imperialist May Thirtieth Movement swept the country, and the KMT government called for strikes in Canton and Hong Kong. The tensions of the massive strikes and protests led to the Shakee Massacre.

After the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 the mood was changing in the party toward the communists. In August the left-wing KMT leader Liao Zhongkai was assassinated and the right-wing leader Hu Hanmin, the suspected mastermind, was exiled to the Soviet Union, leaving the pro-communist Wang Jingwei in charge. Opposing communist encroachment, the right-wing Western Hills Group vowed to expel the communists from the KMT. The "Canton Coup" on 20 March 1926 saw Chiang solidify his control over the Nationalists and their army against Wang Jingwei, the party's left wing, its Communist allies, and its Soviet advisors.[111][112] By May, he had ended civilian control of the military[112] and begun his Northern Expedition against the warlords of the north. Its success led to the split of the KMT between Wuhan and Nanking and the purge of the communists in the April 12 Incident. Immediately afterwards Canton joined the purge under the auspice of Li Jishen, resulting in the arrest of communists and the suspension of left wing KMT apparatuses and labor groups. Later in 1927 when Zhang Fakui, a general supportive of the Wuhan faction seized Canton and installed Wang Jingwei's faction in the city, the communists saw an opening and launched the Guangzhou Uprising. Prominent communist military leaders Ye Ting and Ye Jianying led the failed defense of the city. Soon, control of the city reverted to Li Jishen.

Li was deposed during a war between Chiang and the Kwangsi Clique. By 1929, Chen Jitang had established himself as the powerholder of Guangdong. In 1931 he threw his weight behind the anti-Chiang schism by hosting a separate Nationalist government in Guangzhou.[113] Opposing Chiang's alleged dictatorship, the separatists included KMT leaders like Wang Ching-wei, Sun Fo and others from diverse factions. The peace negotiations amid the armed standoff led to the 4th National Congress of Kuomintang being held separately by three factions in Nanjing, Shanghai and Canton. Resigning all his posts, Chiang pulled off a political compromise that reunited all factions. While the intraparty division was resolved, Chen kept his power until he was defeated by Chiang in 1936. During the WW2, the "Canton Operation" subjected the city to Japanese occupation by the end of December 1938.

Amid the closing months before total Communist victory, Guangzhou briefly served as the capital of the Republican government. Guangzhou was captured on 14 October 1949. Amid a massive exodus to Hong Kong and Macau, defeated Nationalist forces blew up the Haizhu Bridge across the Pearl River in retreat. The Cultural Revolution had a large effect on the city, with much of its temples, churches and other monuments destroyed during this chaotic period.

The People's Republic of China initiated building projects including new housing on the banks of the Pearl River to adjust the city's boat people to life on land. Since the 1980s, the city's close proximity to Hong Kong and Shenzhen and its ties to overseas Chinese made it one of the first beneficiaries of China's opening up under Deng Xiaoping. Beneficial tax reforms in the 1990s also helped the city's industrialization and economic development.

The municipality was expanded in the year 2000, with Huadu and Panyu joining the city as urban districts and Conghua and Zengcheng as more rural counties. The former districts of Dongshan and Fangcun were abolished in 2005, merged into Yuexiu and Liwan respectively. The city acquired Nansha and Luogang. The former was carved out of Panyu, the latter from parts of Baiyun, Tianhe, Zengcheng, and an exclave within Huangpu. The National People's Congress approved a development plan for the Pearl River Delta in January 2009; on March 19 the same year, the Guangzhou and Foshan municipal governments agreed to establish a framework to merge the two cities.[114] In 2014, Luogang merged into Huangpu and both Conghua and Zengcheng counties were upgraded to districts.

On June 16, 2022, an EF2 tornado struck the city, causing major power outages and knocking out power to the city's subway lines.[115][116][117]

There are 47 different types of minerals and also 820 ore fields in Guangzhou, including 18 large and medium-sized oil deposits. The major minerals are granite, cement limestone, ceramic clay, potassium, albite, salt mine, mirabilite, nepheline, syenite, fluorite, marble, mineral water, and geothermal mineral water. Since Guangzhou is located in the water-rich area of southern China, it has a wide water area with many rivers and water systems, accounting for 10% of the total land area. The rivers and streams improve the landscape and keep the ecological environment of the city stable.[123]

Despite being located just south of the Tropic of Cancer, Guangzhou has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa/Cwa) influenced by the East Asian monsoon. Summers are wet with high temperatures, high humidity, and a high heat index. Winters are mild and comparatively dry. Guangzhou has a lengthy monsoon season, spanning from April through September. Monthly averages range from 13.9 °C (57.0 °F) in January to 28.9 °C (84.0 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 22.6 °C (72.7 °F).[11] Autumn, from October to December, is very moderate, cool and windy, and is the best travel time.[124] The relative humidity is approximately 68 percent, whereas annual rainfall in the metropolitan area is over 1,700 mm (67 in).[11] With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 17 percent in March and April to 52 percent in November, the city receives 1,628 hours of bright sunshine annually, considerably less than nearby Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 0 °C (32 °F) to 39.1 °C (102.4 °F).[125] The last recorded snowfall in the city was on 24 January 2016, 87 years after the second last recorded snowfall.[126]

Guangzhou is a sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over eleven districts:

Liwan Yuexiu Haizhu Tianhe Baiyun Huangpu Panyu Huadu Nansha Conghua Zengcheng

Administrative divisions of Guangzhou Division code[128] Division Area (km2)[129] Population (2020)[130] Seat Postal code Subdivisions[131] Subdistricts Towns Residential communities Administrative villages 440100 Guangzhou 7,434.40 18,676,605 Yuexiu 510000 136 34 1533 1142 440103 Liwan 59.10 1,238,305 Shiweitang Subdistrict 510000 22   195   440104 Yuexiu 33.80 1,038,643 Beijing Subdistrict 510000 18   267   440105 Haizhu 90.40 1,819,037 Jianghai Subdistrict 510000 18   257   440106 Tianhe 96.33 2,241,826 Tianyuan Subdistrict 510000 21   205   440111 Baiyun 795.79 3,742,991 Jingtai Subdistrict 510000 18 4 253 118 440112 Huangpu 484.17 1,264,447 Luogang Subdistrict 510500 14 1 90 28 440113 Panyu 529.94 2,658,397 Shiqiao Subdistrict 511400 11 5 87 177 440114 Huadu 970.04 1,642,360 Huacheng Subdistrict 510800 4 6 50 188 440115 Nansha 783.86 846,584 Huangge Town 511400 3 6 28 128 440117 Conghua 1,974.50 717,684 Jiekou Subdistrict 510900 3 5 46 221 440118 Zengcheng 1,616.47 1,466,331 Licheng Subdistrict 511300 4 7 55 282

Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations English Chinese Pinyin Guangdong Romanization Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an Liwan District 荔湾区 Lìwān Qū lei6 wan1 kêu1 lai4 van1 ki1 Yuexiu District 越秀区 Yuèxiù Qū yud6 seo3 kêu1 yet6 siu4 ki1 Haizhu District 海珠区 Hǎizhū Qū hoi2 ju1 kêu1 hoi2 zu1 ki1 Tianhe District 天河区 Tiānhé Qū tin6 ho4 kêu1 tien1 ho2 ki1 Baiyun District 白云区 Báiyún Qū bak6 wan4 kêu1 pak6 yun2 ki1 Huangpu District 黄埔区 Huángpǔ Qū wong4 bou3 kêu1 vong2 bu4 ki1 Panyu District 番禺区 Pānyú Qū pun1 yu4 kêu1 pan1 ngi2 ki1 Huadu District 花都区 Huādū Qū fa1 dou1 kêu1 fa1 du1 ki1 Nansha District 南沙区 Nánshā Qū nam4 sa1 kêu1 nam2/lam2 sa1 ki1 Conghua District 从化区 Cónghuà Qū cung4 fa3 kêu1 vung2 fa3 ki1 Zengcheng District 增城区 Zēngchéng Qū zeng1 xing4 kêu1 zen1 sang2 ki1 Guangzhou City 广州市 Guǎngzhōu Shì guong2 zeo1 xi5 kong3 ziu1 si4

The Canton Fair, formally the "China Import and Export Fair", is held every year in April and October by the Ministry of Trade. Inaugurated in the spring of 1957, the fair is a major event for the city. It is the trade fair with the longest history, highest level, and largest scale in China.[136] From the 104th session onwards, the fair moved to the new Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center (广州国际会展中心) in Pazhou, from the older complex in Liuhua. The GICEC is served by two stations on Line 8 and three stations on Tram Line THZ1. Since the 104th session, the Canton Fair has been arranged in three phases instead of two phases.

• 
  Guangzhou skyline
• 
  The former Canton Fair site at Yuexiu's Liuhua Complex
• 
  Interior of the Canton Fair Complex in Pazhou, 2006

• Cantonese cuisine is one of China's most famous and popular regional cuisines, with a saying stating simply to "Eat in Guangzhou" (食在廣州).[note 10]
• Cantonese sculpture includes work in jade, wood, and (controversially) ivory.
• Canton porcelain developed over the past three centuries as one of the major forms of exportware. It is now known within China for its highly colorful style.
• Cantonese embroidery is one of china's four main styles of the embroidery.
• Zhujiang Beer, a pale lager, is one of China's most successful brands.

• GAC Group
• Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone
• Guangzhou Nansha Export Processing Zone

  The Export Processing Zone was founded in 2005. Its total planned area is 1.36 km² (0.53 sq mi).[137] It is located in Nansha District and it belongs to the provincial capital, Guangzhou. The major industries encouraged in the zone include automobile assembly, biotechnology and heavy industry. It is situated 54 km (34 mi) (a 70 minutes drive) south of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and close to Nansha Port. It also has the advantage of Guangzhou Metro line 4 which is being extended to Nansha Ferry Terminal.

• Guangzhou Free Trade Zone

  The zone was founded in 1992. It is located in the east of Huangpu District and near to Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. It is also very close to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport.[138] The major industries encouraged in the zone include international trade, logistics, processing and computer software. Recently the Area has been rebranded and is now being marketed under the name Huangpu District. Next to the industries above, new sectors are being introduced to the business environment, including new energy, AI, new mobility, new materials, information and communication technology and new transport. It is also Home to the Guangzhou IP Court.[139]

• Guangzhou Science City

Guangzhou is a hub for international businesses. According to an article by China Briefing, over 30,000 foreign-invested companies had settled in Guangzhou by 2018, including 297 Fortune Global 500 companies with projects and 120 Fortune Global 500 companies with headquarters or regional headquarters in the city.[140]

Most of Guangzhou's population is Han Chinese. Almost all Cantonese people speak Cantonese as their first language,[148] while most migrants speak forms of Mandarin.[146] In 2010, each language was the native tongue of roughly half of the city's population,[149] although minor but substantial numbers speak other varieties as well. In 2018, He Huifeng of the South China Morning Post stated that younger residents have increasingly favored using Mandarin instead of Cantonese in their daily lives, causing their Cantonese-speaking grandparents and parents to use Mandarin to communicate with them. He Huifeng stated that factors included local authorities discouraging the use of Cantonese in schools and the rise in prestige of Mandarin-speaking Shenzhen.[150] Jinan University released a survey result of the Guangzhou youths born in the year 2000 or after that were part of this educational study showed that 69% could still speak and understand Cantonese, 20% can understand Cantonese, but unable to speak it, and 11% completely had no knowledge of Cantonese. Jinan University's study of these Guangzhou youths also indicated when it came to the daily recreational use of Cantonese, roughly 40%-50% of them participated in these recreational functions with the usage of Cantonese with 51.4% of them in mobile games, 47% in Social Platforms, 44.1% in TV shows, and 39.8% in Books and Newspapers. Despite some decline in the use of Cantonese, it is faring better in survival, popularity, and prestige than other Chinese languages due to the historical pride in the language and culture, as well as the wide popularity and availability of mainstream Cantonese entertainment, which encourages locals to retain the Cantonese language.[151][152] As of the 2020s, additional renewed efforts were introduced to preserve the local Cantonese language and culture with some limited Cantonese language classes now being taught in some schools as well as hosting Cantonese appreciation cultural events along with hosting activities that cater to the local Cantonese culture and language as well as many local Cantonese speaking families are now placing much stronger emphasis on their children to speak Cantonese to preserve the culture and language.[153][154] Guangzhou has an even more unbalanced gender ratio than the rest of the country. While most areas of China have 112–120 boys per 100 girls, the Guangdong province that houses Guangzhou has more than 130 boys for every 100 girls.[155]

Recent years have seen a huge influx of migrants, with up to 30 million additional migrants living in the Guangzhou area for at least six months out of every year with the majority being female migrants and many becoming local Guangzhou people. This huge influx of people from other areas, called the floating population, is due to the city's fast-growing economy and high labor demands. Guangzhou Mayor Wan Qingliang told an urban planning seminar that Guangzhou is facing a very serious population problem stating that, while the city had 10.33 million registered residents at the time with targets and scales of land use based on this number, the city actually had a population with migrants of nearly 15 million. According to the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences researcher Peng Peng, the city is almost at its maximum capacity of just 15 million, which means the city is facing a great strain, mostly due to a high population of unregistered people.[155]

According to the 2000 National Census, marriage is one of the top two reasons for permanent migration and particular important for women as 29.3% of the permanent female migrants migrate for marriage [Liang et al.,2004]. Many of the female economic migrants marry men from Guangzhou in hopes of a better life.[156] but like elsewhere in the People's Republic of China, the household registration system (hukou) limits migrants' access to residences, educational institutions and other public benefits. It has been noted that many women end up in prostitution.[157] In May 2014, legally employed migrants in Guangzhou were permitted to receive a hukou card allowing them to marry and obtain permission for their pregnancies in the city, rather than having to return to their official hometowns as previously.[158]

Historically, the Cantonese people have made up a sizable part of the 19th- and 20th-century Chinese diaspora; in fact, many overseas Chinese have ties to Guangzhou. This is particularly true in the United States,[159] Canada,[160] and Australia.

Demographically, the only significant immigration into China has been by overseas Chinese, but Guangzhou sees many foreign tourists, workers, and residents from the usual locations such as the United States. Notably, it is also home to thousands of African immigrants, including people from Nigeria, Somalia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[161]

The encompassing metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to have, as of 2010, a population of 25 million.[162][163]

ScienceDirect provided a report on their website of the development of Guangzhou from 1990 until 2020. Their map report showed in 1990, the developed residential districts were almost exclusively concentrated to a small part of western Guangzhou whereas other parts of Guangzhou had smaller limited amount of developed residential communities being overwhelmingly surrounded by agricultural and forest lands. However, from 2005 until 2020, other parts of the city eventually began to develop more so residential communities and in the 2020 map report, it showed fully developed residential communities going from west to east of the city whereas the very southern part and large portions of northern Guangzhou still remain mainly agricultural and forest lands with very limited developed residential communities. [164][165][166][167]

When the first line of the Guangzhou Metro opened in 1997, Guangzhou was the fourth city in Mainland China to have an underground railway system, behind Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. Currently the metro network is made up of thirteen lines, covering a total length of 476.26 km (295.93 mi).[168] A long-term plan is to make the city's metro system expand to over 500 km (310 mi) by 2020 with 15 lines in operation. In addition to the metro system there is also the Haizhu Tram line which opened on 31 December 2014.[169]

The Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit (GBRT) system which was introduced in 2010 along Zhongshan Road. It has several connections to the metro and is the world's 2nd-largest bus rapid transit system with 1,000,000 passenger trips daily.[170] It handles 26,900 pphpd during the peak hour a capacity second only to the TransMilenio BRT system in Bogota.[171] The system averages one bus every 10 seconds or 350 per hour in a single direction and contains the world's longest BRT stations—around 260 m (850 ft) including bridges.

In the 19th century, the city already had over 600 long, straight streets; these were mostly paved but still very narrow.[42] In June 1919, work began on demolishing the city wall to make way for wider streets and the development of tramways. The demolition took three years in total.[172]

In 2009, it was reported that all 9,424 buses and 17,695 taxis in Guangzhou would be operating on LPG-fuel by 2010 to promote clean energy for transport and improve the environment ahead of the 2010 Asian Games which were held in the city.[173] At present, Guangzhou is the city that uses the most LPG-fueled vehicles in the world, and at the end of 2006, 6,500 buses and 16,000 taxis were using LPG, taking up 85 percent of all buses and taxis.

Effective January 1, 2007, the municipal government banned motorcycles in Guangdong's urban areas. Motorcycles found violating the ban are confiscated.[174] The Guangzhou traffic bureau claimed to have reported reduced traffic problems and accidents in the downtown area since the ban.[175]

Guangzhou's main airport is the Baiyun International Airport in Baiyun District; it opened on August 5, 2004.[176] This airport is the second busiest airport in terms of traffic movements in China. It replaced the old Baiyun International Airport, which was very close to the city center but failed to meet the city's rapidly growing air traffic demand. The old Baiyun International Airport was in operation for 72 years. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport now has three runways, with two more planned.[177] Terminal 2 opened on April 26, 2018.[178] Another airport located in Zengcheng District is under planning.[179]

Guangzhou is served by Hong Kong International Airport; ticketed passengers can take ferries from the Lianhuashan Ferry Terminal and Nansha Ferry Port in Nansha District to the HKIA Skypier.[180] There are also coach bus services connecting Guangzhou with HKIA.[181]

Guangzhou is the terminus of the Beijing–Guangzhou, Guangzhou–Shenzhen, Guangzhou–Maoming and Guangzhou–Meizhou–Shantou conventional speed railways. In late 2009, the Wuhan–Guangzhou high-speed railway started service, with multiple unit trains covering 980 km (608.94 mi) at a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph). In December 2014, the Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed railway and Nanning-Guangzhou railway began service with trains running at top speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph) and 200 km/h (124 mph), respectively.[182] The Guangdong Through Train departs from the Guangzhou East railway station and arrives at the Hung Hom station in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The route is approximately 182 km (113 mi) in length and the ride takes less than two hours. Frequent coach services are also provided with coaches departing every day from different locations (mostly major hotels) around the city. A number of regional railways radiating from Guangzhou started operating such as the Guangzhou–Zhuhai intercity railway and the Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing intercity railway.

There are daily high-speed catamaran services between Nansha Ferry Terminal and Lianhua Shan Ferry Terminal in Guangzhou and the Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal, as well as between Nansha Ferry Terminal and Macau Ferry Pier in Hong Kong.

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  Gongyuanqian Station of the Guangzhou Metro
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  Tianhe Sports Center Station (GBRT)
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  Baiyun International Airport in Huadu District
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  A CRH3 Train at Guangzhou South Railway Station
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  A Tram at Wanshengwei Station

Before the postmodern era, Guangzhou had about 124 religious pavilions, halls, and temples.[42] Today, in addition to the Buddhist Association, Guangzhou also has a Taoist Association, a Jewish community,[185][186] as well as a history with Christianity, reintroduced to China by colonial powers.

Taoism and Chinese folk religion are still represented at a few of the city's temples. Among the most important is the Temple of the Five Immortals, dedicated to the Five Immortals credited with introducing rice cultivation at the foundation of the city. The five rams they rode were supposed to have turned into stones upon their departure and gave the city several of its nicknames.[187] However, the temple has not been restored as a Taoist temple status yet. Other famous temples include the City God Temple of Guangzhou and Sanyuan Palace. During the Cultural Revolution, all Taoist temples and shrines were practically destroyed or damaged by the red guards. Only handful of them like Sanyuan Palace were restored during 1980s. Guangzhou, like most of southern China, is also notably observant and continue the practice of Chinese ancestral worship during major festive occasions like the Qing Ming Festival and Zhong Yuan Festival.

Buddhism is the most prominent religion in Guangzhou.[188] The Zhizhi Temple was founded in AD 233 from the estate of a Wu official; it is said to comprise the residence of Zhao Jiande, the last of the Nanyue kings, and has been known as the Guangxiao Temple ("Temple of Bright Filial Piety") since the Ming dynasty. The Buddhist missionary monk, Bodhidharma is traditionally said to have visited Panyu during the Liu Song or Liang dynasty (5th or 6th century). Around AD 520, Emperor Wu of the Liang ordered the construction of the Baozhuangyan Temple and the Xilai Monastery to store the relics of Cambodian Buddhist saints which had been brought to the city and to house the monks beginning to assemble there. The Baozhuangyan is now known as the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, after a famous poem composed by Su Shi after a visit during the Northern Song. The Xilai Monastery was renamed as the Hualin Temple ("Flowery Forest Temple") after its reconstruction during the Qing dynasty.

The temples were badly damaged by both the Republican campaign to "Promote Education with Temple Property" (廟產興學) and the PRC's Cultural Revolution but have been renovated since the opening up that began in the 1980s. The Ocean Banner Temple on Henan Island, once famous in the west as the only tourist spot in Guangzhou accessible to foreigners, has been reopened as the Hoi Tong Monastery.

Nestorian Christians first arrived in China via the overland Silk Road, but suffered during Emperor Wuzong's 845 persecution and were essentially extinct by the year 1000.[189] The Qing-era ban on foreigners limited missionaries until it was abolished following the First Opium War, although the Protestant Robert Morrison was able to perform some work through his service with the British factory. The Catholic archdiocese of Guangzhou is housed at Guangzhou's Sacred Heart Cathedral, known locally as the "Stone House". A Gothic Revival edifice which was built by hand from 1861 to 1888 under French direction, its original Latin and French stained-glass windows were destroyed during the wars and amid the Cultural Revolution; they have since been replaced by English ones. The Canton Christian College (1888) and Hackett Medical College for Women (1902) were both founded by missionaries and now form part of Guangzhou's Lingnan University. Since the opening up of China in the 1980s, there has been renewed interest in Christianity, but Guangzhou maintains pressure on underground churches which avoid registration with government officials.[190] The Catholic archbishop Dominic Tang was imprisoned without trial for 22 years; however, his present successor is recognized by both the Vatican and China's Patriotic Church.

Guangzhou has had ties with the Islamic world since the Tang dynasty.[191] Relations were often strained: Arab and Persian pirates sacked the city on October 30, 758; the port was subsequently closed for fifty years.[54][55][56][57][58] Their presence came to an end under the revenge of Chinese rebel Huang Chao in 878, along with that of the Jews, Christians,[59][60][61] and Parsis.[62][63] Nowadays, the city is home to halal restaurants.[192]

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  Guangzhou's Temple of the Five Immortals
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  The Hall of the 500 Arhats at the Flowery Forest Temple (Hualin) in the 1870s
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  The Temple of Bright Filial Piety
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  Guangzhou's City God Temple
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  The sacred pigs of the Ocean Banner Temple (Hoi Tong) in the 1830s

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  The Flower Pagoda at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees (Liurong)
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  The Thousand Buddha Tower at the present-day Hoi Tong Monastery
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  Sacred Heart Cathedral
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  Tianhe Church, built in 2017

Canton Tower[196]

The Eight Views of Ram City are Guangzhou's eight most famous tourist attractions. They have varied over time since the Song dynasty, with some being named or demoted by emperors. The following modern list was chosen through public appraisal in 2011:

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  The Pearl River at Haiyin Bridge
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  Zhujiang New City from Pakwan or Baiyun Mountain
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  A brick carving at the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum, housed in the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

Bombax ceiba, Guangzhou's official flower

Guangzhou attracts more than 223 million visitors each year, and the total revenue of the tourism exceeded 400 billion in 2018.[197] There are many tourist attractions, including:

Modern Guangzhou by day

Modern Guangzhou at night

In every district there are many shopping areas where people can walk on the sidewalks; however most of them are not set as pedestrian streets.

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street

The popular pedestrian streets are:

There are many malls and shopping centers in Guangzhou. The majority of the new malls are located in the Tianhe district.

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  Canton Custom House (est. 1916), one of the oldest surviving in China
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  Aiqun Hotel, Guangzhou's tallest building from 1937 to 1967
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  Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel on Shamian
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  The Canton Cement Factory (est. 1907), which housed Sun Yat-sen from 1923 to 1925
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  The old provincial capitol, now the Museum of Revolutionary History
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  Guangzhou's CBD, including the IFC (right)

As of October 2020, Guangzhou hosts 65 foreign consulates-general/consulates, excluding the Hong Kong and Macao trade office, making it one of the major cities to host more than 50 foreign representatives in China after Beijing and Shanghai.[22][23]